Rethinking Lifestyle

Steinbach will be substantially more populated. We are at about 19,000 people now. There are predictions that by 2050 we will be as big as Brandon; 50,000 people. That means we will have 31,000 more people in Steinbach in 2050 than we do now. At 3.1 people per house that is 10,000 more houses and apartments. Over a 28-year period (2022-2050) that is 360 more houses or apartments per year. This is an increase of 20% in new builds compared to the last two years which were at 289 and 302 new housing starts.

This expansion gives us several opportunities. What will our new houses and apartments be like? At SETI, we have repeatedly called for more energy efficient solar-ready housing. Energy prices will certainly be higher in 2050, so it makes economic sense to invest in better insulation, air-tightness and heat recovery ventilation systems.

The climate, according to Dr. Ian Mauro of the climateatlas.ca group predicts that in Steinbach we will go up from an average of 14 days above 30 degrees to 53 days above 30 degrees in 2050. Our winters will not be as cold; only minus 9 degrees average in winter compared to today’s average of minus 15. Very cold days (below minus 30 degrees) will decrease from an average 13 days now to only 1-2 days per winter in 2050. This means that heat pumps will be very effective in 2050, because they can both heat and cool. We will not need a gas furnace or electric furnace backup anymore.

Another opportunity is designing a walkable and cyclable city that is perhaps based on modules with essential service centres within each module, close to all houses and apartments. I would love to see some strictly pedestrian streets. I envision a beautiful walkway with retail businesses on both sides and living spaces above. There could be balconies overlooking the avenue and even washing hanging out, as long as it is colourful.

A city the size of Brandon needs public transport. Here is another opportunity to design a superb public transit system that does not depend on diesel buses like most cities, including Brandon currently do. The New Flyer bus company in Winnipeg already produces several styles of electric buses that are immediately available.

Let’s design our expanded city around people, not cars. Speaking of cars, there are many versions of electric cars now available. Steinbach is the perfect place to lead the electric car charge (pun intended) because we are the “automobile city”. We live in Manitoba where 97% of our electricity comes from renewable hydro sources. Most families have two cars. One of those cars could be a neighborhood electric vehicle (NEV). This is a new class of electric vehicle perfectly suited for cities where speeds are typically 50 kph or less. There are at least 10 different brands of NEVs available. One that you might recognize is the street legal version of the golf cart produced by E-Z-Go. The NEV will be a growing market in car sales and there is currently no dealership in Steinbach (hint, hint).

A great city has excellent places to live, work, shop, play and be entertained. I will leave some of the imagining to you. We now have enough evidence that our city will grow. We have an opportunity to choose the direction in which it will grow. Let’s choose well.